Tenant Sued Me For Deposit In Small Claims

[marcelo]

My jurisdiction is: California

My tenant sued me in small claims for the depsoit in which I had given a portion of it back and an itemized list. She won the judgement since I failed to mail the list to her within 21 days under California Civil Code 1950.5. I returned it in 23 days and our lease agreement stated 30 days. I understand the judges ruling and why she won the case, however, the judge did note that the tenant did indeed cause damages to the premise. So my question is, can I still make a claim for the costs I have incurred for the damages by filing an appeal or a completely different small court claim? I have heard so many different opinions. I don't know if I am correct, but I don't believe that a tenant can walk away without having to pay for damages that were caused to my property even though I mailed the damage list two days after the 21 days. Please help!

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

The time to make these claim for damages was during the initial lawsuit; did you file a counterclaim for these damages? If not, you should have:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/sec-deposit.shtml

Gail

 

[marcelo]

No I did not file a counterclaim since she was asking for her enyire deposit back. I explained to the judge that she caused damage to the property and showed him the pictures. He did state that she did cause the damages but the deposit was returned due to the 21 day factor. This was just mailed to me on Monday. Since I did not initially file a counter claim because I thought this would be all handled in court, is it too late? Do I have grounds for a new claim or an appeal? Thank you.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

This is probably what you're looking for. It gives good details on appealing a judgement:

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/appeal.htm

Gail